ABSTRACT
The control of pregnant cancer patients is difficult because it involvers both mother and fetus, and the metabolic alterations in the cancer host induce a massive mobiliztion of nutrients diverted to the neoplastic cells. The purpose of the present study was to determine the evolution of the Walker 256 carcinoma in pregnant rats and its consequences on fetal development. The results showed tha t the tumors displayed a very rapid rate of growth and induced a reduction in fetal weights in the pregnant tumor-bearing rats. The tumor-bearing and pregnant tumor-bearing groups showed a decrease in blood glucose and total serum protein, suggesting an increase in energy utilization of these substrates and synthetic activity by the tumoral cells. An imbalance between protein synthesis and catabolism may occur in the tumor-bearing rats whic may be related to the degree of nutritional depletion